Osama hunt: Doctor's sentence reduced by 10 years

The sentence of a doctor who helped the US track down slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was on Saturday reduced by 10 years and his fine reduced by Pakistani Rs.10 lakh (over $10,000).

Munir Azam, the Commissioner of Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), passed the order after reviewing the Afridi's 33-year jail term and Rs.320,000 lakh fine, Dawn Online reported.

Shakil's lawyer Samiullah Afridi said that he would further appeal to a tribunal in the Federally Administred Tribal Areas, adding that he did not sought a review of the case but had asked for a fresh trial.

Shakil Afridi had allegedly helped the CIA by running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad a month before the US forces' raid on a compound that killed Osama in 2011.

Afridi was arrested for his alleged links with the CIA and also charged with links with the banned Lashkar-e-Islam religious outfit.

Afridi was sentenced last May by an assistant political agent of the Khyber Agency tribal region.